that's going to do it for 3450e. i'm fredricka whitfield. much more continues at the top of the hour with don lemon. right now, time for sanjay gupta ph.d. >> hey there, thanks for joining us. on tap today, how to avoid shocking medical mistakes. plus, hall of fame baseball player and manager joe torre opens up about his childhood in an abusive home. >> first, we have seen a lot of stories on troops in u.s. battle, surviving devastating injury, but what happened to this marine corporal made my jaw

drop. how does something survive having a live rocket propelled grenade shot into their body? here is barbara starr. >> this marine corporal knew the rocket propelled grenade was coming right at him. >> all of a sudden, just, i saw the rpg coming towards me. and it hit me, and you know, i was hit and my boys, they knew exactly what to do, and they came down, no hesitation, no nothing. and they picked me up, got me to safety. >> he had a live foot-long rocket propelled grenade embedded in his left side. but even so, he kept his cool. >> i tried to call in my own medevac but i couldn't because my radio, the rpg had struck the battery in my radio. >> plain words from this baseball loving 23-year-old native of the dominican republic. perez and his fellow marines

knew the rpg could explode at any minute, but they also knew he needed medical help as soon as possible. it would become a journey of courage and even humor by so many. >> we were joking around, while they were attending to me, we were there like it was nothing. ia know, just talking. >> captain kevin deuce's helicopter crew immediately agrees to take on the dangerous mission. >> there was quite a bit of alarm, i must be true, at the time. as you can imagine. >> perez and that live rocket were just inches from 300 gallons of aviation fuel. when the hilo landed, commander james sunaury ordered his staff to stay away. >> i decided i was going to go, because quite frankly, i'm not going to ask someone to do what i'm not going to do. it's not going to happen. >> look at this video, he in the helmet, made a vow to perez.

>> i promise you i won't leave you until that thing is out of your leg. he said, cool. >> he and an explosives expert struggled to pull the rocket out. remember t could have exploded at any moment. surgeons say just a few millimeters to the left or right and the rpg would have cut an artery. perez would be dead. as it is, he's hanging out again with his marine buddies. >> we went out to a baseball game, we did what buddies do back home, you know, didn't really talk much about when we were over there, just kind of forgot about it, moved on with our lives. hung out, you know, drank a little. did man stuff. >> barbara starr, cnn, washington. >> and joining me now from chicago is lieutenant commander james denari, the nurse responsible for saving perez's life. thanks for joining us. welcome back home. great to see you there live and

back. i spent a great deal of time in afghanistan. i have some idea of what it must have been like, sand everywhere, not ideal conditions, dusty desert tents. there's a process in your mind, although it's an unusual situation, did you know right away you needed to take this out? was there a consideration, look, can we deactivate this in some way before taking it out? >> well, as i was walking out, i ran into the one general surgeon we had, commander andy pelzar, he and i discussed it briefly and the choses were two, one, we would pull it out, see if we could control the bleeding, and carry on from there. or two, we would send out the one general surgeon we had with an o.r. tech and a nurse and an an stheesology and see if they could remove it. it seemed prudent to try plan a first because quite frankly, one

of two things is going to happen, it was going to come out or blow up. it didn't blow up, we could get it out or dislodge it enough so then surgical intervention could be used. we only had one surgeon and more nurses and myself, so i guess it was kind of a mathematical thing. >> still just an unbelievable story. you're back home now safe and sound in chicago. as i pointed out, as you told the story to your family and to your friends, what's been their reaction to it? and let me add this, would you do it again if the same sort of situation happened? >> the answer to the second question first, yeah, i would do it again. you know, yeah, i would do it again. and the first question is a lot of my family and friends, they call me a hero and all that. but my wife really summed it up. we have been married 25 years and when i called her on the phone from afghanistan and told

her what had happened about two weeks later, she said, well, that doesn't surprise me. she pretty much said it that way, too. >> she knows the kind of person you are. >> she does. >> you have been an e.r. nurse, as you told me earlier, your whole professional life. as an e.r. nurse in the states, you're in these types of situations all the time, but not when your own life and the life of your staff is also at risk. it's worth pointing that out again, how incredible a situation this was. it was an actual live munition in this soldier's body that you removed, essentially, at great risk to yourself. i applaud you, sir. a lot of respect, thanks for joining us. >> thank you, sir. thank you very much. >> we also have an update on another big story we have been following. proposition 29, as you may know, it's a proposed $1 tax on every pack of cigarettes in california, estimated to raise about $735 million a year. most of the money would go toward cancer research.

opponents nearly 50 million, mostly from big tobacco companies are trying to block the tax. the voting on tuesday was extremely close. in fact, in california, they're still counting absentee ballots and they still don't know the outcome. we'll keep you posted. lots more ahead, including this little boy. he needed an operation. but the surgeons got the wrong spot. we'll share the story behind this terrible mistake. for three hours a week, i'm a coach.

but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news.

here, we talk a lot about medical errors and the fact they kill anywhere between 100,000 to 250,000 people a year depending on various studies, that number i think is shocking in and of itself, but some aerrors are moe shocking and preventable than others. my friend and colleague elizabe elizabeth cohen has been looking into this. she has a special report airing this weekend. let's look at one part of this to start off with. >> jesse mat lock has a wandering right eye.

he needs surgery to have it fixed. he goes in for the operation and the surgeon cuts into the left eye instead of the right. >> my husband and i were in awe. we're like, can you repeat that again? she said, frankly, i lost sense of direction. >> they messed up and did this eye and then did this eye. >> surgeons are supposed to initial or mark the correct side like they did with jesse. heresy one way they can still get confused. >> we place drapes over the entire area to keep it sterile. mistakes can be made rarely when you have draping that obscured the mark. >> in the u.s., seven patients every day suffer body part mix-ups. just before surgery, make sure you confirm with the nurse and surgeon the correct body part and side of the operation and don't be shy about doing it. >> i tell you, hearing stories like this, we do things in the operating room where i work to

try to prevent that from happening. one is a time-out where we say, let's agree it's the right arm, left side, first, let me ask, jesse had this operation. how is he doing? did it affect his vision in his good eye? >> it did affect his vision. so after the surgery, instead of having one bad eye, he had two bad eyes. and he can see out of them, but his vision is misaligned and it's become a problem. he has been getting better, but it's still, he doesn't have perfect vision in that eye. >> it sounds like, i mean, the worst possible thing. you have two eyes and you showed there, it was a good animation, how this could happen. seven times a gai, you say this happens in the united states. are they like this? wrong sided surgery, obviously, is a real problem, but how dramatic? >> some might be worse than this, and some might be -- the outcome might not be quite as bad. it's hard to judge. for example, there was a woman in rhode island who went in for an eye operation and they took out her tonsils. i'm not making this up.

was there harm? she's perfectly fine without her tonsils, of course, but they then had to go back and do the second surgery on her eyes. she had an unnecessary surgery. these things actually happen. >> it was interesting to hear jesse's parents say they had a conversation with the surgeon who sounded like, i got mixed up. i got turned around. sounds like they were very transparent and forthright about it. are people forthright, or is there a sort of approach that hospitals take? >> in your book, you mentioned a group called sorry work, thtd was started by someone whose son was killed in a medical mistake, and all he wanted was for someone to say they were sorry. it shows there are fewer lawsuits when someone says that. it's meaningful when someone says, i'm human, i made a mistake. it's important for getting closure. >> you talk a lot about this. it's good advice, being an empowered patient means speaking up, having an advocate especially if you're a child. is there anything else?

people are going to look at the story and say, that's the one thing i never want to happen to me. but what else would you tell them? >> your aanesthetized. our daughter had hernia surgery. and we said, we want to talk to the surgeon just before the surgery, just before he does it. we said, let's repeat, doctor, which side. it's the right side, right? it's the right side? and we saw him make his mark on her right side. this took a little bit of doing. the nurses weren't so thrilled. we slowed down the day's schedule by doing it, but we made sure he knew what side. he's the guy holding the knife. we knew the nurses knew. we wanted to make sure he knew. >> it's good protocol. it could slow things down but save a lot of time on mistakes. >> have you had families do that? >> absolutely. we visit in the holding room, go over things again. i thought it was a good use of time because we all sort of go over it again and hope to alleviate any last minute

concerns. great documentary. can't wait to watch it. do i get a sneak preview? >> absolutery. perks of the job. you have four girls and i have three girls. i mention this when we're together because it's an extraordinary thing, seven girls among us, but also extraordinary is we hardly get any sleep. it's a common complaint, how you and your baby can both sleep like babies. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals and zero fat! hmmm. you'll bring a lot to the party. [ all ] yay! [ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. twenty-one vitamins and minerals. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. refreshing nutrition in charge!

but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans.

that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

you know, my next guest has the number one complaint of new parent, lack of sleep. no surprise, half of parents say they get less than six hours of sleep every night. not enough. while we know the baby is not sleeping, chances are you're not, either. dr. harvey kerp has a new book

"the happiest baby guide to great sleep." welcome to the show, dr. karp. >> good to meet you. >> you, too. you're known for coaching babies to sleep with what you say, the five essence, that's your method, swaddling, placing the baby on the side or stomach but not while they're sleeping, swinging, sucking, and using shushing sound. i'm most intrigued by the sound componeabout, the white noise, i think you describe it. why is that so important? >> inside the womb, the sound babies hear is louder than a vacuum cleaner 24/7 and those sounds and all of the ss turn on a calming reflex that's like a relative off switch for crying and an on switch for sleep that all babies are born with. >> not all white noise is the same. i actually have a prop here. i want to show people, this is a

little bit what it looks like here. and you can hear that plenty loud. a different setting on here that serves, but you also have rain, don't know if you can hear that, brook, there's even one that sort of simulates the sound in the womb. a heart beat. is thas what you're talking ability, the right stuff, so to speak? >> that's the kind of white noise, but actually, all of those sounds need to be more m rumb rumbly. when you think about what a baby hears in the womb, they're in water, and water filters out high pitch. they don't hear that as much as they hear a rmmm. more low pitch. when you think about calming a baby. when they're trying, you go shush. as they calm, you naturally l lower your pitch. >> you're absolutely right. i have three young children, and you described that perfectly. my children are about to be 7, 5, and 3. your new book also helps older

children get to sleep. my yingest child, first of all, is having the most difficulty. what do you tell a child as they become a toddler who doesn't like to go to bed? >> well, you know, for one thing, you're not alone, i'll tell you that. baby center and i did a survey of over 1,000 moms and a third of the families were struggling with their kids' sleep over a year of age. with defiance at bedtime or waking up in the middle of the night. of course, you can use white noise for those kids as well. that helps them not wake up or not bother you in the middle of the night. they'll sleep through better. i like to start bedtime, believe it or not, after breakfast. think about it that way. that you want to encourage them to go out and get exercise and fresh air and of course eat well, and avoid caffeinated foods, things like ice tea and cola and even chocolate can disturb a child's sleep. then at nighttime, start white noise in the background about an

hour before bedtime and dim the lights a little bit. that gives a cue to the brain to start releasing melatonin which as you know is the brain's natural sleep hormone. >> the hormone of darkness, as it's called. melatonin. i have been wanting to speak to you for a long time. i hope a lot of people are going to get a lot out of it. >> thanks, i look forward to the next time. >> you may not know this at home, but lack of sleep for parents is also linked to higher rates of shaken baby syndrome. a terrible consequence. >> baseball hall of famer joe torre grew up in a violent home. he's going to share his story next. good morning! wow.

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you know, it's a hard number to imagine, but some 3 million children suffer domestic violence every year in this country. and among them was a kid from brooklyn who went on to become the famous joe torre. joe torre, he's one of the most successful baseball managers in the past 40 years. >> i can't tell you what the emotions are. they're just running all into each other. and i can't tell you how happy where y am. >> just as he was reaching the pinnacle of his career, winning four world series titles in five years, he began opening up about his childhood, growing up with an abusive father. >> my older sister came from the kitchen into the dining room, and she had a knife protecting my mom and my dad was going into the drawer in the dining room to get his revolver. and i did witness that, and i

still remember vividly going over to my sister and grabbing the knife and putting it on the table. >> for young torre who was expected to be inducted into the hall of fame, baseball became his sanctuary. >> i'm just lucky i played baseball. i had an opportunity to go someplace to hide. what time do you have to be in class? >> today, he's giving back. by providing a real sanctuary for other abused children. >> a perpetrator, you know, we do them favors when we don't talk about things like this. and awareness is so important in this. and letting people know it's okay to talk about this. >> torre and his wife started the safe at home foundation which funds dedicated spaces inside schools where kids can speak openly and get counseling about domestic violence. >> they don't have advocates for them, and we're trying to be

inadvocates. >> he names each site margaret's place in honor of his mother. >> when i stepped foot in margaret's place, it's like i got a chance to see who i was on the inside without wearing this mask that i portrayed to everyone that i was okay. my home life wasn't good. i felt like i couldn't trust anybody, and here, i really got the support that i needed. >> youngsters are strong. you know, they bounce back a lot. but i don't think they realize that it hurts them. you know, and they hurt. and i think -- i get choked up when i start talking about that. >> now row tired from managing teams, he's still in the game, overseeing operations for major league baseball and also giving his time to end violence. >> we're chasing life today. growing a garden. just recently, our friends at

urban farming.org launched their 1,000 friends and family campaign, the goal is 100 million gardens around the world. comedian richard lewis shows up. >> all i do is eat vegetables now. my wife is into this, you know, god forbed there's anything in the refrigerator. >> truth of the matter is growing your own garden can guarantee a lot of things, for example, you can avoid pesticides. some home grown produce has more neutrients from farms, and one side benefit is working outside can be great exercise for you and your family. in fact, i brought my own family to help pland our cnn garden. that was about a month ago. take a look at how it's doing. look at all the food. we're going to be sharing it with the atlanta food bank. before we go, i have a message from my little friend, my buddy max page as he heads to his eighth o